How to create beautifully branded proposals in Dubsado - say goodbye to plain and boring Google forms
“My business is soooooo unique. I spent £10k on my business branding and I love it. Dubsado just wouldn’t do it justice and my clients would spot Dubsado a mile away, because everyones looks the same. I’ll carry on using my custom-designed PDFs for the rest of eternity, because they’re much better for my brand.”
That 👆is the myth we’re busting today my love!
So grab a cuppa, buckle in, and get your eyes ready - because we’re about to dive deep into the world of Dubsado customisation and show you exactly how bloody amazing Dubsado can look.
Why the ‘plain and boring’ myth persists…
Like with most myths, there is some teeny tiny element of truth to the claim that Dubsado is dull and corporate and not ‘unique’ enough to do your brand justice.
And that’s because, yes - if you use Dubsado straight outta the box and don’t utilise any customisation options, you will end up with a Dubsado workflow that is very obviously Dubsado-y. And probably looks exactly the same as hundreds of other Dubsado workflows out there in the world.
The bog-standard Dubsado lead capture form is basic to say the least:
Plain, boring, dull, snooze-inducing. All those words accurately describe that 👆form.
So yes, if you want to use Dubsado straight out of the box without doing even the teeniest tiniest bit of customisation, you’re right to say that Dubsado sucks. It’s same-y and boring and rubbish.
What your Dubsado forms could look like…
But, shock horror, you don’t have to stick with the default settings anywhere in your Dubsado account!
Just like most pieces of software since MySpace, you can customise your Dubsado forms, proposals, client portals, schedulers - literally everything your client might see can be entirely customised with your branding.
And if you’re not convinced, take a look at these BEAUTS:
Charlie Britz Photography - Proposal
Hunter Gatherings Stationery - Proposal
The Collect Co Creative - Proposal
How to add your snazzy custom branding to Dubsado
Fancy forms and portals that look *that* good?! You’re in the right place.
I’m about to show you exactly how to add your custom branding to your Dubsado account so that everything is in your colours, your fonts and with your logos in the right places.
Ready? Let’s go:
Log in to your Dubsado account and click on the "Settings" tab in the top menu.
In the left-hand menu, click on "Branding" to access the branding settings.
From here, you can upload your company's logo, choose a colour scheme for your Dubsado account, and customise the font and font sizes used throughout the platform.
4. You can also customise the email templates used for communication with clients, including the header and footer, as well as your email signatures.
5. Once you've made your changes, make sure to click "Save" to apply them to your Dubsado account.
And it’s really THAT EASY! Five steps, and everything you create in Dubsado (like invoices, contracts, etc) will look like yours - instantly recognisable as your brand, and definitely not like your competitors’!
How to build a custom form in Dubsado
One of the most exciting features in Dubsado is the form builder.
I know, I know. How can a form builder be exciting?!
But it is. Even if you’re not quite as nerdy as I am.
Dubsado’s forms can do almost anything you could possibly imagine.
They can be contracts or questionnaires or proposals or enquiry forms or sub-agreements - see, everything!
And Dubsado’s shiny new form builder that launched in 2022 makes it SO easy to build forms that look good, capture the right information from your clients, and link up seamlessly with the next stage in your workflow.
(Psst: no idea what a workflow is? Check this out)
We could sit here for days exploring every tiny Dubsado forms feature that could make your business life a breeze, but in the interests of not keeping you from your very important Instagram scroll for longer than necessary, these are my favourite features:
Customisable fields - so you can ask anything you need to know the answer to in the best possible way. Includes text fields, dropdowns, multiple-choice checkboxes and more!
Organise content using containers - use them to move your content into columns, group elements together, and start separating your content out by adding containers with your brand colours
Images, logos, backgrounds - all the juicy visual stuff! You can customise almost any part of the Dubsado form to make it look *exactly* how you want it to (and you’ll see how in a moment!)
Okay, okay. I can feel you chomping at the bit to learn how to actually build one of these incredibly exciting forms. So here goes:
Log in to your Dubsado account and click on the "Forms" tab in the top menu.
Choose your form type, and click on the "+" button to start a new form.
Give your form a name (e.g. a client intake form, a project questionnaire, etc.).
Use the form builder tools to add fields to your form. Choose from Dubsado’s default text fields, dropdown menus, checkboxes, and more. To make use of Field Mapping and storing the answer in the client project or folder, click on the "Field Mapping" option.
Customise the look and feel of your form by adding images, your logos, and background images:
a) To add an image, click on the "Image" option in the field menu, and then upload the image from your computer.
b) To add a logo, click on the "Logo" option in the field menu, and then upload the logo from your computer.
c) To add a background image, click on the "Background" option in the field menu, and then upload the image from your computer.
Once you're happy with your form, click on the "Save" button to save your changes and make the form available for use.
And it’s THAT EASY. Again.
Dubsado really does make form-building a fun experience. It’s drag-and-drop since the 2022 update, which means you can lay things out in a way that looks best for your brand and keeps the client engaged too. AND means that your form will never look bland or boring or identical to your competitors’ forms - because you can use your branding, your tone of voice, your logos, and connect your forms to your unique workflows too.
Ready to get started with Dubsado?!
Of course you are! I expected nothing less.
Because Dubsado is amazing. It’s not bland or boring or not customisable - it’s the exact opposite of all of those things and can turn your business from soul-sucking-admin-demander into something you love again.
SO, how do you get started? You’ve got three options…
You can be brave and build your Dubsado yourself. But WARNING: it can feel overwhelming when you’re starting from scratch! You’ll need to map out every single client process, every single piece of content you need to create (emails, forms, invoices, etc) and figure out exactly how to connect everything together in the most streamlined way possible. It’s definitely worth doing, but it takes time!
You can hire meeeeee to build your entire Dubsado for you! We’ll map everything out together and then I do the legwork of actually building it - and making sure your workflows work seamlessly and every eventuality is catered for. Easy peasy. Talk to me about a Dubsado setup by clicking here.
You can get the best of both worlds and choose my Workflow Creation Service. We’ll sit down to map out your client processes together, then I’ll send you away with a fully-fledged workflow map that you can build in your Dubsado account. Perfect if you’re happy with the tech, but feeling overwhelmed with the planning! Talk to me about Workflow Creation here.
Whichever option you choose, I’ve got another treat up my sleeve for you… Use my affiliate link to get 20% off your first month or year when you sign up for Dubsado!